Art of silk manufacture



April 12, 1932. w. H. FURNESS 1,853,123

ART OF SILK MANUFACTURE Filed Dec. 12, 192'? INVENTOR BY 1 M I ATTORNEYS Patented Apr. 12,1932.v

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE WILLIAM H. FURNES S, OF NATIONAL PARK, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOIR, BY MESNE AS SIGNMENTS, TO FURNESS' COBIIORATION, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A

' CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY Aim or SILK MANUFACTURE This invention relates to improvements in the art of silk manufacture, and it is especially useful in the production of cupro-ammonium rayon in connection with which it will be described.

One of the primary objects of the invention is to deflate the formed thread in an effective and simple manner whereby tangling and consequent breakage in the subsequent treatment' of the thread to condition it, as well as other disadvantages, are avoided.

Another object of the invention is to improve the elfliciency of the decopping operation to' the end that the product may be improved.

In the manufacture of artificial silk thread, the thread is subjected to baths suchas acid and washing baths, and it is an object of the invention to make improvements with respect o thereto of such character that a minimum amount of floor space is required and other advantages tobe hereinafter pointed out are obtained.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a novel arrangement whereby the formed thread may be simply and effectively manipulated for the purpose of subjecting it to a bath. c

Other objects and advantages will appear hereinafter.

I accomplish the foregoing. by a process and apparatus illustrated in preferred form in the accompanying drawings, wherein Fig. l is a vertical section through'apparatus embodying my improvements.

Fig. 2 is a fragmenta side elevation illustrating certain parts 0 the invention.

Fig. 3 is a partial section andside elevation illustrating still other details of the invention, and

Figs. 4 and 5 are fragmentary views illustrating the manner in which certain of the winding spools employed in the conditioning is laid thereon.

Referring, now, to Fig. 1, the reference character 7 indicates a spool of newly formed thread. This thread is produced by spinning a copperhydrateammonia-cellulose solution 59 into an alkaline bath, such as-a caustic soda I of the thread are driven and how the thread bath. The spun filaments converge to form v the thread which is then laid upon the spool 7, as by means of the cap twister mechanism forming a part of my copending application, Serial N 0. 239,403, filed December 12, 1927.

The first step in the deflating operation of the formed thread thus laid upon the spool 7 is to subject the thread as it is being unwound to a bath, preferably a very weak caustic soda solution which, in the preferred form of my invention, is sprayed upon the spool 7 by means of a jet 8 so that the whole length of thread is effectively subjected thereto as it is being unwound. The spray collects in the trough 9 and is run to any suitable source of supply for reuse.

I have found that by subjecting the formed thread to such aweak caustic soda solution some of the caustic soda physically present in the thread is removed and this without any tendency tosoften the thread, as is often the case where a bath of water is used. It will be quite apparent that such a weak caustic solution is very inexpensive.

The thread as it is unwound from the spool 7 is passed through an acid bath 10 in which theeombined caustic soda and the-copper, as well as the water physically present, are removed. The thread passes over the pulley -11 down into the bath and over the wheel 12 and thence up through the bath and is then wound upon the cylinder or large spool 13, ghehlower portion of which revolves in'the at The thread is substantially completely de flated in the bath andno appreciable deflation of the thread on the cylinder 13 occurs. When the spool 13 is filled, it is removed and the thread is subjected to a washing and then to a drying operation, after which it is unwound from the cylinder and wound upon a spool such as the spools employed by the mills which fabricate the thread into-cloth.

Because of the defiation in the bath hereinbefore described and the absence of any appreciable deflation upon the cylinder, the

thread does not lengthen nor collapse on the subsequent to the decopping operation, and hence the thread does not become loosened or 1 wardly through the bath bath of this 0 tangled upon the cylinder and may be un-' wound therefrom without breakage.

I referto only partially twist the thread by t e ca twister hereinbefore referred to and to ad any desired twist by rotating the spool upon which the thread is finally wound after the drying operation.

It will be seen that by having the thread pass downwardly into the bath and thenu a long travel in t e bath is obtained, and that the floor space which would otherwise be occupied by the bath is greatly conserved.

As the thread passes over the wheel 12 it is flattened, as it were, which has the effect of separating the filaments of the thread so as to expose the individual filaments more effectively to the bath. l

I have found that the exposure of the filaments to the action of the bath above referred I to greatly shortens the period of time'that it is necessary for the thread to be subjected to the bath in order to decop. Hence, the run of the thread in the bath may be greatly shortened. Thebath, therefore, occupies a" relatively small vertical space as well as horizontal area;

The down and up movement of the thread in the bath may also be of assistance in expediting the decopping operation,

In order to make it possible 'to start the thread readil on the cylinder 13, with a haracter, and in order to cause the thread to properly engage with the traverse guide bar 14 em loyed in layin the thread upon the oylin er 13, I provife the following arrangement.

The wheel 12 is carried on the block 15 which is slidable upon the guide bar 16 which exends from substantially the bottom of the bath upwardlyto the bracket 17 above the bath. The block 15 is suspended u on a suitable wire cable 18, the other end 0 the cablev being secured ,to the mechanism A to be hereinafter described.

In starting the thread upon a new cylinder,

2 13, the operation is as follows: The block 15 and the wheel 12- are moved to the upper position indicated by the reference character a: by means of the mechanism A. The cylinder 13 beingrotated through the medium of the drive 19, the thread is started upon the cylinder and follows a path from the spool 7 indicated-by the dot and dash line 3 The mechanism A now very slowly lowers the block 15 and the wheel 12, and the wheel engages the run of the thread and gradually carries the thread downwardly into the bath, the spool 7 temporarily rotating at a faster rate than it does when the wheel 12 is in solely by the rate that it is being wound upon the cylinder 13.

In the meantime the guide traverse bar '14 is moving back and forth' across the cylinder 13, and when the wheel 12 gets to the position marked 2, the thread is just about to time the thread is engagedby the guide on the traverse guide bar 14. At the time that the thread enters the guide, the run of the thread from the wheel 12 to the guide is sufficiently long to prevent any undue load being imposed upon the thread as it engages the traverse guide, such as would permanently elongate the thread or cause it to break. Referring now to the mechanism A, this is used to elevate the wheel to its upper position in order to permit starting of the thread on the cylinders 13 and to gradually lower the wheel to its bottom position after the thread has been started. The mechanism comprises the pulley 20to which one end of the cable 18 is attached; the drum 21 which has an end of the cable 22-securcd thereto and which is associated with the pulley 20 so that the two rotate together; the ratchet wheel 23 adapted to be engaged by the pawl 24 carried on thepulley 20; the shaft 25 to which the ratchet wheel 23 is keyed and on which the pulley 20 and the drum 21 are mounted for freedom of rotation with respect thereto; and the driving belt 26 operated from a motor not shown for slowly rotating the shaft 25.

The operation is as follows: To raise the block 15 and wheel 12 to upper position, the cable 22 is pulled which causes the drum, and, with it, the pulley 20 to rotate in a direction so that .the cable 18 is wound upon the pulley 20. This movement is possible because the pawl 24 will ride over the ratchet teeth on the ratchet wheel 23. As soon as the block and pulle are in upper position they begin to descen because the ratchet wheel is being slowly rotated by the shaft 25. The pulley 20 and drum 21 rotate with the ratchet wheel,

ratchet wheel. Thus, the speed of unwind ing or lowering moveinent is determined by the rate of rotation of the shaft 25. When the wheel 12 is in the bottom position indicated, the slack of the cable 22 is taken up and the pulley 20 and drum 21 no longer rotate;

with the ratchet wheel, but the pawl rides oiifr' 1the teeth of the slowly rotating ratchet w ee I When the spool or cylinder 13 is full, it is removed, a new one put in place, and the operation is repeated.

Referring, now, to the drive for the battery feet.

of spools or cylinders 13, it will be seen that these cylinders are mounted on the shaft 27. This shaft is laid in the upper face of the bearing blocks 28 so that the shaft and cylinders may be bodily picked up or put in place. The shaft 27 has a flattened shoulder portion 29 adapted to engage a similar portion 30 on the shaft-31 which is driven from any suitable source of power by any suitable means, such as the belt drive 19. The weight of the shaft 27 and the parts it carries is suflicient to establish driving connection between the shoulders 29 and 30.

When the spool or spools 18 are filled, the shaft 27 is picked up and the spools are subjected to a washing operation to remove the acid, after which the thread is dried. The spools may thus be handled in numbers.

The dried thread is now unwound from the spools, and, as hereinbefore pointed out, is wound upon the spools which are employed in the mill in fabricating the silk into cloth. The spools 13 are preferably driven in the unwinding operation by collars as described in my application. Serial No. 181,614 filed April 6, 1927, and a twister is employed which twists the thread and softens the thread as it is being so unwound and wound upon the final spools.

It will be seen from the foregoing that all skeining operations, both in the silk mill and in the fabricating mill, are avoided. In fact, the thread is not touched, except at the end when starting the thread upon the, various spools, and that the manipulations after the thread has been initially formed are all of a winding and unwinding character.v In con-.

sequence of this, the thread is at no time subjected to any operation or manipulation such as tends to break the filaments or the thread. At all times the thread is laid upon a spool with light tension for reasons which will be readily understood to those skilled in the art. V

' It will be observed that the formed thread is subjected to a washing operation in the dilute caustic bath before it is subjected to theacid bath. This has anumber of advantages. The thread is stable inthe dilute caustic bath and does not soften. The dilute caustic bath removes caustic soda physically present in a very inexpensive way. This also reduces the amount of work required to be performed by the acid bath, and, hence, effects a saving in acid and also a reduction in "the time that the thread must be in the acid bath. In this connection, the run of the thread in the acid bath is approximately eight This invention is, in part, a division of my Since part of the caustic soda is reing the thread from the spool while subjecting it to a bath, in winding the treated thread on a spool, in washing and drying the thread, in unwinding the thread from the spool and winding and further twisting it on a spool.

3. In combination, in artificialsilk thread treating apparatus, of a bath, a support adapted to rotatably carry a spool of threadto be treated, a second spool adjacent the bath for the winding thereon of the thread unwound from the first spool, and means adapted to cause the run of the thread after starting to be carried into the bath, said means comprising a thread guide member adapted to be immersed into the bath, and means whereby such member may be elevated out of the bath and slowly immersed therein.

In testimony whereof I have. hereunto signed my name.

WILLIAM FURNESS. 

